Waste Management shows guests how to think green at INNOVENTIONS at Epcot®

INNOVENTIONS at Epcot® at the Walt Disney World® Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. opened a new interactive exhibit called “Don’t Waste It, ” a collaboration between WM and Walt Disney Imagineering, showcases the latest advances in waste disposal and the company’s “green” approaches to handling garbage.

The INNOVENTIONS pavilion is a unique 100, 000 square-foot interactive playground of hands-on exhibits. The location was an ideal destination for Waste Management to educate park visitors about the present state and the future of waste. This newest exhibit walks guests through the number of ways in which garbage is handled throughout the collection process while illustrating the technologies behind single-stream recycling and converting waste into energy.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for the public to learn more about our operations and the ways in which we are protecting and enhancing the environment, ” said Sr. Vice President of Government Affairs and Corporate Communications Barry Caldwell, who has been working on the project since its inception two years ago. “It’s amazing how Disney has made this happen in a fun and interactive way. It certainly furthers our goal to not only be a waste collection company, but an industry leader that is identifying new ways of reducing, reusing, and recycling materials, as well as recovering the energy in waste as a source of renewable energy.”

Eric Goodman of Walt Disney Imagineering, who headed up the creative team working on the project, said he learned a lot about trash in researching what WM does. “I believe my first thought when I got the assignment was, ‘well, here’s a story that everyone knows about because we deal with garbage everyday.’ Oh, how naïve I was, ” Goodman said. “I learned that most people only know half the story – how to create garbage. We’re really good at filling trash cans and recycling bins a few times a week and dragging them down to our curb, but after that – well, I think we all believe a ‘garbage fairy’ makes the trash magically disappear. We assume the trash we see isn’t our garbage; that’s everyone else’s garbage. As I began to meet the people of Waste Management, the second half of the trash story began to become much clearer.”